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Black Myth: Wukonguses a Stance system, allowing the Destined One to adjust his combat strategy based on the situation. As you progress through the game, you’ll gain access to three stances, each providing new heavy attacks and variable combos. By making good use of each stance you can pull off some truly incredible attack combos against even the most dangerous foes the game has to offer.
Stance switching is instantaneous inBlack Myth: Wukong, allowing you to quickly shift if you need access to a different heavy attack or variable combo. That said, knowing when to use each stance and how each stance performs against different types of opponent is the key to success, so here’s a breakdown of every Stance in an effort to answer the question: “Which Stance is Best?”
Smash Stance
As the stance you begin the game with, Smash Stance remains viable in most encounters, performing best in one-on-one fights and against enemies whose attack patterns you’ve learned. By using Resolute Counterflow you can nullify an incoming attack and strike back with greater force, which becomes even more effective once you gain the Skyfall Strike upgrade and can consistently stagger your target with a well-timed variable combo.
Smash Stance also allows you to move around freely while charging a heavy attack and can even be used to charge while sprinting if you purchase the appropriate upgrade, making it a great stance with which to initiate fights. Running in with a fully-charged heavy attack can shave tons of health off an enemy or crush weaker foes in a single blow. That said, Smash Stance’s attacks aren’t great at hitting multiple targets unless they’re standing in a straight line when you go for a Skyfall Strike, so you’ll probably want to swap to Pillar Stance for that.
Smash Stance’s heavy attack is a simple overhead slam, which deals a lot of damage but will typically only hit the target you’re locked onto due to its short reach.
Pillar Stance
The second available Stance,unlockable once you’ve invested a total of five Sparks, is Pillar Stance. This stance can seem underwhelming at first glance but truly shines when facing off against groups or enemies with wide-reaching attacks that travel along the ground. Pillar Stance’s heavy attack allows you to perch atop your staff for as long as you hold the button, extending the staff based on how many focus points you have. Perching puts you beyond the reach of most melee attacks, though attacks striking the staff will drain your stamina and you’ll be knocked down if it runs out. Releasing the heavy attack button will cause you to drop, performing a long-reaching slam with the extended staff that can easily strike multiple foes.
As a variable combo, once unlocked, Pillar Stance allows you to use Sweeping Gale. This has the destined one plant the staff ahead of them and spin around it, performing a multi-hit kick in the process. This can strike multiple enemies around you, which can help clear some space if you’re being swarmed by weaker foes. After purchasing the Gale’s Blessing upgrade you’ll take considerably less damage while performing the spin, making it less risky to use. After unlocking Churning Gale, you may hit heavy attack again after using Sweeping Gale to perform a wide swing with an extended staff, which deals a ton of damage and tends to stagger anything it hits.
As you’ve likely gleaned from the information above, Pillar Stance is the ideal method of dealing with groups of foes, and can also be used to dish out great damage against your target(s.) With the exception of Perching to avoid attacks on the ground, Pillar Stance is lacking in defensive options and can be risky to use against enemies that strike hard and fast. When keeping your distance is preferable but you still want to put out some huge damage, you might consider Thrust Stance instead.
Thrust Stance
The third stance the Destined One can gain access to,first available at level 20, is Thrust Stance. As the name suggests, this stance specializes in rapid jabs that take full advantage of your weapon’s variable length. The heavy attack for Thrust Stance has the Destined One extending the staff to perform a long-range jab, which can deal a ton of damage when it connects and can stagger the target. After getting Whirling Thrusts, you can hold the light attack button after doing this to lunge forward into melee range and perform a flurry of jabs, making this a great way to close distance quickly.
Keeping with the theme of darting in and out of melee range, Thrust Stance’s variable combo (once unlocked) performs a backstep when you use a heavy attack during a light attack combo, carrying you back a short distance. If you tap heavy attack again and have at least one focus point, you can follow this with a ranged jab similar to the stance’s heavy attack which can be followed up with Whirling Thrusts if desired. With the right upgrades, you can also transition Whirling Thrusts into the Tactical Retreat backstep to disengage.
Thrust Stance is an excellent and highly mobile style that works well when facing an enemy with dangerous close-range attacks, like AOE blasts, allowing you to quickly approach and retreat as the situation demands. This makes it a tricky style to learn but very rewarding to master, especially against bosses who transition to a second or third phase by using an AOE attack.
Which Stance is Best?
Now, back to the heart of this article. Generally speaking,the best stance will vary depending on your situation.Smash Stance is a useful all-purpose stance that you can safely spend most of your time in, but once you unlock Pillar Stance you should start switching into it when facing groups or when an enemy is stunned and you can make full use of its Sweeping Gale. Once you get Thrust Stance, it’ll likely become your new default stance for initiating combat, using it to fire off a charged heavy attack at long range before closing the distance with Whirling Thrusts. Once you’re in range, you can swap into Smash Stance to take advantage of Resolute Counterflow, or Pillar Stance when dealing with groups.
As for my personal opinion, I find myself using Smash Stance the most, followed by Thrust (which I often use to initiate combat and close distance on enemies), and then Pillar the least. With that said, I started using Pillar a lot more after unlocking Gale’s Blessing, especially when up against groups.
